The first assigned reading was a case study of Customer and Enterprise Services (CES) Division. It is the back end customer service & support provider for majority of the insurance companies in the United States. The issue they faced was the demoralization of their work force. A lackadaisical quota based approach to work was prevalent among most levels due to the archaic & heartless management & leadership approach in place. The case study analyzes CES’s transformational process to counter this issue. The seeds of this company wide transformation were sown through the personal transformation of John Parker, Vice president of CES while it underwent the transformation. I think the story shows the importance of leadership in such an undertaking, …show more content…
This company is global leader in cleaning, sanitizing, food safety and infection control products and services. Although their product line & innovative products speak for themselves, Ecolab has continuously been recognized for its excellent customer relations and service, which in turn are an indication of their workforce. The leadership of Ecolab recognized their growth and a need for strategic future planning. They adopted the leadership pipeline framework developed by Charan, Drotter & Noel in 2011. Although this framework provided the guidelines & path for employees to realize their growth Ecolab had to instill various other ideas in this framework to ensure success. They believed a culture shift would allow for acceptance of the key business drivers in the work force which in turn would foster growth. The pipeline began with the individual managing oneself and focusing on personal development. The other stages were managing others, managing managers, function managers & business managers. Ecolab’s analysis suggested that even with the pipeline in place, they could not promote individuals to level where they weren’t ready yet, so they also ramped up recruiting efforts for such positions. They also redefined “high potential” to reflect not only performance numbers but also capability, ambition and commitment. They also instituted a talent council to scout and keep an eye out for talent
Within each business group is a matrix organization to support project based work (Newman, 2013). The organizational structure culture of CH2M HILL is very laid back according to the Little Yellow Book, however, senior management is unaware of it (Newman, 2013). Prospective candidates are attracted to the company due to the exciting projects and the chance to directly have an impact on making a difference in the environment. Historically, CH2M HILL has achieved its growth and success as a small engineering consulting firm. The CEO at the time strongly believed in developing its own people rather than hiring top positions from outside the company. As time went by, the company grew through mergers and acquisitions. CH2M HILL became a world leader in engineering, consulting, construction, and operations. The main problem Walstrom must address is employee turnover, especially with new employees, and a lack of senior leaders who were promoted from within the company. Walstrom identified a lack of growth opportunity and support from management and as the root cause of the problem. These causes are manifested by the company hiring employees for the technical skills, not interpersonal or leadership skills and also due to a lack of a culture that encourages a continuous learning environment. Employees who 've been with CH2M HILL between three to five years claim to have less opportunities for advancement, recognition, and direction than
...eption, and laissez-faire.” (Northouse, 2013, P, 214) The pros with the transformational approach are that it put importance on the significance of followers in the leadership procedure and how they want followers to achieve more and have increased job satisfaction. The cons with the transformational approach are the validity of the MLQ, and how effectively it determines good transformational leaders. Some researchers have also claimed that transformational leadership could be used in damaging ways and would be result in negative outcomes for companies and organizations.
To best meet the needs of business today the transformational and the team approach leadership styles seem to provide solid solutions. Leaders who are informed and make an effort to include followers in decision making are better equipped to lead a workforce that is equally informed and able to contribute on an equal basis. Transparency among management leads to a collective involvement amongst employees that can be invested in and improved upon from within. As individuals within an organization feel their input and expertise is requested, utilized, and implemented their passion and overall buy in to the organizations goals and mission is inevitably higher.
The book discusses that transformational leadership theory as “similar to charismatic leaders, but they are distinguished by their special ability to bring about innovation and change by recognizing followers’ needs and concerns, providing meaning, challenging people to look at old problems in new ways, and acting as role models for the new values and behaviors.” (Daft, 2015). Another definition of Transformational Leadership Theory is “Transformational leadership emphasises satisfying basic needs and meeting higher
The book “The Leadership Pipeline How to Build the Leadership Powered Company”, discusses the need to establish clearly defined passages from the individual contributor to the Enterprise Manager. In the first section of the book we review the characteristics needed to succeed as a Group Manager. These characteristics are all built on efficacious passage from the previous level of manager. If an individual was not fully proficient and had not made the transition from one level to the next he or she will clog the leadership pipeline and will prevent effective management, both above the clog and below the clog.
This case study demonstrates a young woman leader, Toby Johnson, who used to serve in the military as a pilot and attended Harvard Business School, joined PepsiCo’s Leadership Development Program (LDP), and was working in the management team at the Williamsport plant. She determined to forge ahead, and led the plant to achieve the Level 3 CI and also won the Doolin Award, which the Williamsport plant had never achieved before. The problem that Johnson encounters currently is that if the plant should continue to forge ahead and achieve the ultimate Level 4 CI, which will cost huge amount of money and efforts with the risk of her sudden leave of plant.
According to Yoder-Wise (2015), a leader can be defined as, “an individual who works with others to develop a clear vision of the preferred future and to make that vision happen” (p 35). As employees, we often have our own ideal of a good leader, which may be influenced by experiences and perception of workplace norms. While one’s opinion of an effective leader may vary, there are several recognized leadership theories. The following will focus on the transformational leadership approach.
The role of leadership can impact an organization performance in many ways. Excellent leadership can propel a company to the fortune five hundred list. For Example, Harpo Incorporated Oprah Winfrey’s company is a successful business that has made billions of dollars over the years. The business consists of several different entities such as the Oprah Show, Oprah Winfrey Network, and The Dr. Phil Show to name a few. This could not have been accomplished with a weak or uneducated leader. Many years ago I heard her give advice to the Williams Sisters. The a...
“Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” is an article written by John P. Kotter in the Harvard Business Review, which outlines eight critical factors to help leaders successfully transform a business. Since leading requires the ability to influence other people to reach a goal, the leadership needs to take steps to cope with a new, more challenging global market environment. Kotter emphasizes the mistakes corporations make when implementing change and why those efforts create failure; therefore, it is essential that leaders learn to apply change effectively in order for it to be beneficial in the long-term (Kotter).
A Transformational leader would elevate the interests of their employees, they would generate awareness and acceptance of the goal for the group. (Bass, B. M. ,1991) An example of transformational leadership in a hypothetical situation would be if there was a monthly goal set for each individual on the team and the leader finished his goals first then went on to help the rest of the team, taking extra time to see every employee as an individual. Another situation would be if a team member had a death in the family and the leader would provide emotional support for the employee as well as rallying the rest of the team to console the team member. Napoleon declared that an army of rabbits commanded by a lion could do better than an army of lions commanded by a rabbit (Bass, B. M. ,1991). The world is full of transformational leaders but we need more. Transformational leadership can be learned, and it can and should be the subject of management training and development (Bass, B. M. ,1991). Next, we will look at Servant
Leadership which is success oriented and mindful of the people’s welfare should be the one that provides direction and steering change which is beneficial to every person. This implies a leadership with the capacity to make development processes and programs a routine whilst at the same time being reliable and systems. Furthermore, leadership incorporates management practices such as the organization of people and providing alternative solutions to various problems affecting the system. An effective leader should be able to prepare people for change (Bennis, 1989).
The concept of transforming/transformational leadership is the process in which the leader and follower help one another to develop a greater level of morale and motivation (Anonymous, N.D.). According to Burns, the transforming approach was to generate substantial change in the life of the people and organization to aspire the followers (Anonymous, N.D.). Through further research, Bass transformational approach measured the leader in terms of their impact on the followers. The qualities of the transformational leader presented trust, loyalty, and respect towards their followers. These results from the leader offered more than self-gain, but inspire followers to a mission to visualize their own identity within the organization, by being successful within the team and those they are serving. These are the characteristics that motivates the writer to continue being a successful transformational leader within their
Leadership, without doubt, is a significantly important function of management. It helps to aggrandize efficiency and to fulfil an organization’s goals. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence, determination, courage and zeal. It is also defined as ability to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders should have the capability of developing future visions, and to drive the organizational members to want to attain the visions. This paper states my points in which I duly believe, justifies the importance of an outstanding leader in any organization.
Transformational leaders are needed to transform low performing organizations to acceptable to high performance. At other times, the leader is expected to move an organization from a crisis. In order to accomplish these tasks, the leader must overhaul the organization culture or subculture. This task is accomplished by nine ways of transforming others: 1. Raise others awareness. The leader makes others aware of the rewards and how to achieve them, i.e. pride in the job or financial incentives. 2. Help others look beyond self-interest. The transformational leader helps others to look at the “big picture” by describing an entire scenario, i.e. if we hire more employees to do x, we will have to make cuts in other areas. 3. Help people find self-fulfillment. The leader helps others not to focus on minor satisfactions, i.e. getting a job done before the deadline ...
Reavis, C. (rev. 2010 November 9). Turnaround and Transformation: Leadrship and Risk at Boston 's Institue Of Contemporary At. Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Case (Library) 10-104.